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Natalie Davis

Professor Provine

English Comp I

6 October 2018

Learning to Read

Reading was a challenge that I did not want to accept when I was younger, I even tried to

avoid it at all costs. The struggle I faced with reading was embarrassing for me, so avoiding it as

much as possible seemed to be the only option. As expected, avoiding the thing I hated most

stopped working for me eventually. In elementary school, in second grade to be exact, I started

to do tutoring to help catch up with where I needed to be at the age I was. I hated it, but I got out

of class for the extra reading help, so I made the sessions drag on as long as possible.

“Natalie could you read the next paragraph to the class please?” was the most horrifying

question I would ever hear come out of a teacher’s mouth. It was not a fear of reading in front of

an audience that made a question as simple as this one so horrifying, but the fact that reading was

such a struggle for me I was embarrassed to read in front of my peers. The very likely chance

that I would say something wrong, or not know what a word was, made me want to run and hide

every time that question was asked. Starting tutoring for reading at the young age I was

whenever I was in the second grade was not very embarrassing, (because everyone was still

learning) it was once I reached the fourth and fifth grades that reading in front of the class made

me the most embarrassed and anxious.

In fourth and fifth grade we had to complete timed reading assessments. During these

assessments we would go into the hallway or another classroom with our teacher and they would

time us reading a story. While we read story aloud the teacher would mark what words we said
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wrong. These reading assessments would tell us what level of reading we were at. Once

everyone had completed their assessments we would discuss what level we were on, everyone

was so far ahead of me that I rarely shared what level of reading I was at for fear of getting made

fun of.

When I was in fourth grade my mom started buying me Dr. Seuss books to try to help me

progress in reading, and it did. I would read the same book over and over again until I could get

it right, then I would move on to the next book and do the same thing for that book. I was so

proud of myself, I thought I was doing such a great job! Until fifth grade, when everyone else

was reading book after book and I was still struggling to just get through the “easy” books. This

was the year of dreaded book reports, reading in front of class became more embarrassing, and I

completely stopped discussing how I did on the reading assessments. I hated reading so much,

yet I never found a way to avoid it. Because I always tried to avoid reading, and it was so

difficult for me, book reports always took a lot longer for me to complete than everyone else in

my class. The books we would have to read were not necessarily difficult to the other students,

but for me, trying to make it through one of the books as quickly as my peers was no easy feat.

I am still not entirely sure what changed in the time between fifth and sixth grade, but

once I got into the sixth grade I started to fall in love with reading. I found books that I genuinely

enjoyed and would spend hours on end reading them. With all the time I spent reading I started

to become an excellent reader, which in turn meant finally reaching a higher level of reading

than most of my peers. I had never felt so accomplished and it was an amazing feeling, the

feeling of accomplishment I felt after finally being a successful reader is a feeling I remind

myself of every time I want to give up on a challenge. Once I realized how much fun reading

could be I never wanted to stop. Reading became a challenge that I wanted to face head-on, so
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instead of avoiding the once hated task as much as possible, I started to practice as much as

much as I possibly could. By the end of the sixth grade I finally loved to discuss what level of

reading I was on because I no longer had anything to be embarrassed about.

Reading became my obsession, I would not put a book down until I finished it. This was

a good obsession because not only was I exceling in reading, but my vocabulary was steadily

increasing. My obsession with reading carried through the remainder of my middle school years

and followed me into high school. It was the ease it took for me to get enthralled in the story line

of a book that caused me to fall behind in school. I would forget homework, or simply chose not

to do the homework so I could finish my book. It was the start of my sophomore year of high

school that I had to learn the hard way to not to start a new book during the school year, a rule I

still follow to this day.

Reading has helped me to escape on bad days, and just go into the world of whoever was

telling the story of whatever book I was reading. It became my way to ignore any bad thing that

had happened that day, and not think about what was to come tomorrow. Reading was my way

of running from my problems instead of facing them. Reading had gone from an obsession, to a

way to escape, but now I use it as a way to entertain myself on the rare days that I do not have

any assignments due.

Reading was a challenge that I did not want to accept when I was young, I even tried to

avoid it at all costs. Now I love to read, although I do still avoid it, just for different reasons.

Reading has taught me to not give up on something, no matter how challenging or embarrassing

of a struggle it might be. It has taught me to face my problems head on, to stop avoiding

situations that might challenge me, and to always persevere.